Rick Santorum Wins by Knocking on Doors

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Rick Santorum has a simple strategy: Just knock.

The former Pennsylvania senator pulled off a treble Tuesday night thanks to gritty grassroots campaigning in two states Mitt Romney had won handily in 2008 and in another that had zero delegates at stake.

Rick Santorum raps on doors.

"Last night was a very good night for [the] campaign, 3 states 3 wins. Help me build on that," Santorum tweeted Wednesday.

Sizable wins in Minnesota and Missouri along with a tight and shocking victory in Colorado showed the efficiency of Santorum's thinly staffed campaign (compared to Romney), which maximized doorknobs and minimized wasteful spending on air campaigning.

Granted, Santorum should still have difficulty winning the broader GOP primary race as front-runner Romney seems to have an unending mound of cash, but woe to the candidate who underestimates Santorum's commitment to shake every hand and knock on every door wherever his tennis shoes can tread.

Santorum operatives touched down in Missouri, Colorado and Minnesota immediately after Florida's Jan. 26 debate, where Romney rolled over Newt Gingrich and swept up the momentum of the race. Santorum and his campaign felt their resources would be wasted in Florida's money pit, and they knew Romney's organization in Nevada made him a virtual lock.

So they went to Missouri and Minnesota -- states that share physical borders with Iowa -- with the hope that they could pick up evangelicals and conservative-base Republicans. And they initially went to Colorado to simply cut down the 60% of votes Romney received there in 2008.

Tuesday was supposed to be the first baby-step in a long process for Santorum to begin clawing back into the race. As one Santorum source said last week: "We're not going to try to land a knockout blow against anyone, our job is to basically make the case and make the case and make the case."

Landing a knockout blow against Romney seems impossible; even multiple victories on Super Tuesday for one of his opponents wouldn't be enough to discourage the former Massachusetts governor. But last night could have dealt the stinging jab that will have forced GOP voters in the remaining primaries to give Santorum a hard look.